Eighteen Years?
by JMolover13
Summary: Emma is in a car wreck. Regina feels it like Charming felt Snow eat the apple.


**Anonymous asked you: emma gets in a car crash, regina feels like charming felt when snow ate the apple but she doesn't know why. henry storms crying saying what happened, regina goes running to the hospital and stays by emma's side till she awake**

**AN: I have been wanting to write this one since I received it, Anon… It's been just as long for me as it has for you. And yes everyone, I did use Callie's injuries minus the baby for this story! Thank you for noticing! I did not make this a musical though. I left that to the geniuses over at Grey's! And as always: Hope you Enjoy!**

Regina got the text at two in the morning. That woman was lucky that her phone was on, otherwise she would have frozen outside in the cold.

"Emma!" Regina hissed as she quietly opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I… I've been trying to tell you something for a long time now. I've been waiting for the perfect time. But, I've realized that there never is a perfect time."

"So you woke me up at two in the morning to come tell me… What?"

Emma grinned, "You're pretty."

Regina rolled her eyes, "For the love of God." She turned to go inside.

"No!" Emma hooked her hand in Regina's elbow and turned her back, "I really do have something to say for real."

"Then say it!" The irritation on the newly reinstated mayor's tone was at a threatening level.

"I can't tell you when you're in a darky and twisty and irritated mood." Emma slumped forward. She looked at the brunette and leaned into her, "But it's a really, really good thing and I think you might just reciprocate." She leaned in and kissed Regina's cheek, "You are really, really beautiful." She smiled, "I'll tell you tomorrow… dinner? Here?"

"Fine." Regina shook her head, "If you think you're not in trouble for leaving like that, think again."

Emma grinned and walked back up the stairs. She kissed her very, very, very secret girlfriend's lips and pulled away, "How about now?"

"Now you may leave." Regina smiled a genuine smile and watched Emma bounce down the stairs once more.

~0~0~0~0~0~

The next afternoon, Emma's walkie talkie sounded as she and Henry were diner.

"Sheriff Swan, we have a 2-11 in progress at 2nd and Main. 2-11 in progress." Emma knit her brows.

"Armed robbery?" Emma muttered under her breath as she stood up.

"COOL! I wanna come!" Henry said as he bounced out of his seat.

"No, kid." Emma grinned, pushing him back down in his seat, "Rubes. Keep him here and call his mom for me? Tell her it was an emergency?"

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

"I resent that." An accent came from further in the diner. Hook pushed his newspaper from his face. He was sitting next to Belle, who was trying to keep her composure.

"I'm not sorry, Hook." Ruby gave him a cheesy grin, and grinned wider as she heard her girlfriend's giggle as she looked back to Emma, "I'll call her once I give him his dessert you promised him."

"Thanks." Emma ran for the door. She got in her cruiser and peeled out of her parking spot.

Henry ran just outside the diner, wanting to see his mom in action. He watched as the lights and siren began sounding and he watched as pedestrians got the hell out of dodge. And just as the cruiser was getting small, he saw it stop. It could a couple seconds for the sound of the crash to get to him.

"EMMA!" he screamed.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma and Regina had had many an argument that Emma not wear her gun around Henry. The blonde finally agreed and kept it in the seat pocket behind her. She was a little caught up in the excitement as she sped down the street. Nothing had really happened in the last year or so. Storybrooke had become a quaint, small town where everyone knew everyone and their business. So the fact that she was getting to deal with an armed robbery made her heart jump with excitement.

The gun slipped from her fingers as she reached for it and flew to the back seat. She saw it in her rearview, as well as many flustered pedestrians. She unbuckled for a split second to reach back before she got where she was needed. She had the gun in her hand and had turned her head back around when the truck came out of nowhere.

It was coming at her as fast as she was coming at it. There was nothing to be done. Everything slowed as it happened. She felt the force of the initial impact, and she felt herself begin to fly forward, she also felt her head connect with her windshield, but then nothing.

She was still conscious. She heard her scared breathing. She felt the blood on her face, but she didn't feel pain. Not at first. The crowd gathered and everyone pulled out their phones to call for help. Their Sheriff was in trouble. But she couldn't tell them she was fine. She couldn't communicate. She could only breathe rasped breaths and wonder if this was what death felt like.

~0~0~0~0~0~

They mayor was in her house. She had been cleaning, something she always took pride in. She'd never hired a maid like many thought, no. She cleaned her own home.

Now that she had the luxury of magic, she was able to clean in half the time. She had planned a jog or possibly a swim after she cleaned and before dinner, but something happened. Something inside of her churned and twisted. She was literally brought to her knees. The multiplied Swiffers, dusters, rags, Pledge wipes, and Scrub n' Bubbles and Mr. Clean products all fell as well. Stopping what they were doing.

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the fetal position. She had never felt such excruciating pain in her entire life. And that was surprising considering her entire life is primarily pain.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Henry started running as fast as his twelve ear old feet could carry him.

"Henry!" Ruby saw him through the window and chased after him.

"That can't be good." Hook said as he and Belle stood and followed both Henry and Ruby.

"No it can't." Belle said trying to prepare herself for the worst.

"It's Emma! It's my mom!" he cried. He wiped his eyes as he ran. Ruby was hot on his heals and Hook and Belle not far behind her.

When they got to the crash site, no one knew what to do. Ruby had the sense to keep Henry from running at Emma.

"Emma! Emma!" Henry cried.

Emma's eyes were open. She stared wide-eyed at her son, but couldn't bring her arms out to him to comfort him. She groaned, as much as she could, when the first wave of pain began. The adrenaline had already faded and the ambulance was only just now arriving.

"Emma!" Henry cried once more as she was lifted off the car and onto the gurney. "EMMA!"

"It's okay, Henry!" Ruby tried, "They're taking her to the hospital. She's going to be fine." She pulled him, "Let's get you home. Tell your mom what happened. She'll take you to the hospital."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Henry burst through the door, "MOM!" He yelled.

"What, Henry?" Regina was still in pain as she heard her son cry for her.

"MOM!" He ran over to her, not taking in the fact that she was on the ground. He pulled on her arm, "We have to go to the hospital!"

"Henry, I don't think I'm in that much pain—"

"It's Emma! She was in a wreck. She went through the windshield. Mom! It looked really bad! We have to go to her! We have to!"

The pain in Regina's stomach tightened once she heard that it was Emma. She pulled from her son and turned from him. A blue cleaning bucket came before her just in time for her to release the bile that had risen in her throat.

"Regina, are you alright?!" She heard Ruby's voice as she lost the contents of her stomach.

Regina sat up and nodded. She covered her mouth, "Not important." She took her son's hand, "Take his hand." She instructed. Ruby looked at Henry's hand then to Regina's brown eyes as she took his hand and before she knew it, she was transported to the hospital.

Regina was already walking towards the ORs not even fully transported.

"Madam Mayor, you can't go inside!" A nurse stopped her.

"And why not?" She gave a menacing glare to the young woman.

"Dr. Whale is doing everything he can. Any disruption or unneeded forces in the room could harm the Sheriff's surgery. Please." She gestured down the hallway that would take them to the waiting room, "He'll update you as soon as he can."

Regina glanced through the window of the door to the OR and saw Emma with her eyes close, cuts all over her face and a tube down her throat. She turned with a huff and took her son's hand. She stomped down the hallway.

After a few minutes, the pain continued inside her gut… and her heart. Henry was still in tears and she held him instead of herself. About an hour later Henry had fallen asleep, Hook and Belle had come to wait with them, as had the savior's parents, and Ruby could still tell she was in pain, but she only traced her sleeping son's face and glared at the nurses, who were scrambling and calling the OR every five minutes for useless updates.

"Regina, seriously. If you're not okay, now is the perfect time to get checked out." Ruby tried.

This made the rest of the group turn to Regina.

"I know what it is." Regina said half-heartedly. She glanced to Ruby, then to Snow and Charming and down to her son.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

It was useless. Regina was done talking.

Charming stared at Regina for a long while. He knelt before the mayor and stared at her until her eyes met his.

"Is it what I think it is?"

Regina held her head high, "If it is?"

Charming shook his head, "Then I'll understand what you're going through, and I might be able to help."

"You can't help." Regina shook her head and looked back to her son, combing his bangs back.

"But I understand?" He needed something in confirmation and the half glance she gave him was it.

It felt like days before Whale came from surgery. Snow and Charming were the first over to him. Regina had Henry's head once again, he'd woken up barely eaten, and worried himself back to sleep by the time he came. Regina wanted to stand, but she wasn't going to leave her son without a pillow. Ruby quickly came over to her. After one look, Regina stood and Ruby sat, placing his head in her lap.

She crossed her arms and dared the doctor to tell her Emma was dead.

Dr. Whale took a breath, "Emma had presented with massive head and chest injuries. She was bleeding internally. She crashed in the ER, but we got her back and brought her to surgery. There, we found that there was also bleeding in her brain. And, the internal injuries we were initially looking at were much worse than we expected."

Snow gasped and Charming held her close. She obviously didn't want to listen.

He paused and looked to Snow White before he continued, "Her pulse became unstable so we had to close her."

"Wait, so you're just doing nothing?" Charming asked.

"We have to wait for her to stabilize, otherwise we could cause more damage."

"And there's nothing _I_ can do?" Regina asked.

Dr. Whale shook his head, "This is beyond magic."

Regina blinked a few times too many and nodded.

Dr. Whale turned to everyone, "There's nothing you all can do right now. I suggest you all go home, get some rest, eat something and we'll notify you when we bring her back into surgery."

As Hook, Ruby and Belle began to gather their things, Henry began to stir. He saw the depressed look on his grandparent's faces and the lost look on his mother's, "What's going on?"

Regina knelt next to him as he sat up, "Emma is going to have to have more surgery. They weren't able to finish what they needed to do because her heart couldn't handle it. So, once she gets a little better, they're going to take her back in."

"You have to do something, Mom. You can save her!"

"No, Henry.. I can't."

"YES!"

"No." Snow came into the conversation, "She can't. Henry some things are beyond magic."

Henry stared at his mother's closed eyes, her flared nostrils and the subtleness of her quivering lip. He'd known that something had changed between his mothers about a month before, but he didn't know what it was until now.

He let it go, "What do we do now?"

"We go home, and we wait." Snow said.

"Mom?" Henry asked, "Is it alright if I go with gramma and grampa?" he knew—he didn't know why he knew, he just knew—that his mom didn't want to go home. He figured it had something to do with that realization though.

Regina nodded, "Yes, Henry. I'd actually prefer that, if you two don't mind?"

Charming nodded, "Of course."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina stayed the night in the waiting room. She was given a cot, but refused to use it. Somehow though, around three in the morning she found herself stretching onto the small bed just to rest her eyes. The dream was unlike anything she'd ever dreamt.

_"Regina!" Emma called from the apple tree. "Get your ass out here!"_

_Without a second though, the brunette walked out of their house towards her wife, "What are you doing out here?"_

_Emma gave her a sexy half smile, "Just uh… Waiting."_

_"Waiting for what?"_

_"The perfect time."_

_"Aren't you the one that always says there is no perfect time?" _

_Emma shrugged, "Maybe there is… Or maybe there was and I missed it. I missed the perfect time."_

_"The perfect time for what?" Regina smiled, mirroring the blonde._

_"The perfect time to tell you I love you."_

_Regina smiled, "I love you too."_

_"No… Regina… This isn't a fantasy. It's not a dream. I love you. That's what I was trying to say. I love you."_

_"Trying to say when? I know you love me. We're married…"_

_"We're—what now?"_

_Regina glared at her, "Emma Swan, so help me, I have had enough of your games."_

_"Regina. I love you."_

_"I love you. That's why we've been together so long."_

_Emma tilted her head in question, "How long?" Regina gave her an unimpressed look, "I just want to see if you know…" was the stumbled answer._

_"Eighteen years."_

_"Eighteen? Wow…"_

_"Emma!" Regina smacked her arm._

_Emma took her face, "I _love_ you. Truly. Deeply. Forever."_

Regina woke up with a start. She would never forget that dream. It was so odd, but so comforting. She shook her head and snapped her fingers for coffee that would make most gag, but do the trick to wake her up.

Dr. Whale was walking her way when she finished her first cup of the day and starting her second of many, many more to come.

"We're taking her in for surgery. I've called her parents, they are on their way." He waited for a nod, then he waited for her to look at him, "I'm not going to let her die. She's a fighter. She's not Daniel, and I hope I'm not overstepping when I say that. She's not him and she will live."

"Dr. Whale?" Regina stood and stared him in the face.

"Yes, Madam Mayor?"

"Just fix her, please."

He gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded before heading toward the hallway that led to the OR.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Henry galloped over to his mother and plopped next to her, snuggling as best he could.

"Have they started?" James asked as he and Snow approached.

"Dr. Whale went back about a half hour ago." Regina spoke softly.

"You want some breakfast, mom?" Henry asked as he offered her an Eggo wrapped in a paper towel.

Regina smiled a small sad smile, "No my love, you go ahead." She wrapped her arm around him and kissed his hair.

Henry only shrugged and bit into the waffles.

~0~0~0~0~0~

The second surgery was much longer than the first. The Charming's and Henry all got up and walked around, but Regina stayed where she was.

Ruby, Belle and Hook came by with lunch and dinner.

"Captain?" Henry asked.

"Yes, my boy?" Hook knelt next to him.

"Why do you always hang around Ruby and Belle? I mean. They're a couple. You know that, right? You know you don't have a chance?"

Hook laughed at Henry's frankness. "Yes, I know. But, I've found that if I hang around these two lovely women then a certain crocodile doesn't bother them."

"So you're like a body guard?"

"No, I'm not a body guard."

"Yes, you are. You're Belle and Ruby's bodyguard. You watch out for them and let nothing happen to them and you aren't dating either one of them—Oh, and you don't get paid either. That's the worst job ever, Captain." Henry looked at the one-handed man.

Everyone around them was trying to hold in their laughter. Even Regina was getting a chuckle from it. He turned to Belle and Ruby laughing into each other's necks, "Would you rather I leave you alone?"

They both looked at him, "Well… No… But we would like you to be happy… So, if you needed to leave us alone for say… a date, we can take care of ourselves." Belle said.

"Especially the weeks of the full moon." Ruby added.

"The things I put up with for beautiful women." Hook rolled his eyes. "You'll understand what I mean someday, Henry."

Henry smiled, "I already do."

"Excuse me?" Regina looked to her son.

"Mom, you and Emma are both pretty." He said, "Hook and I have the same situation, except Ruby and Belle aren't his moms."

"What are you saying?"

"He's saying that he protects you both. Keeps a watchful eye, am I right?"

"Yes, Captain. That's exactly right."

Regina gave a genuine smile to her son, "Thank you for looking out for my well-being."

"You're welcome, mom."

~0~0~0~0~0~

They had been allowed to visit her one at a time. Regina was the last. She had already asked the Charming's to watch after Henry once more. She stayed by her side through the night and the next morning. She had page Whale a few times asking why she wasn't waking up. The only answer her gave was that people wake up in their own time.

Regina didn't know how much time had passed. She knew that Snow, James and Henry would come by and leave, and she knew that it was nighttime again, but she didn't know how many nights had passed.

She was resting her head next to Emma's legs. She'd actually fallen asleep and was drooling. Emma opened her eyes to this sight. She knew she had to tell her before she passed out again or died or something worse or better. Her arm was quite heavy and it felt like it took forever to pick it up and move it to Regina's loose strands of chocolate. She patted the brunette's hair a few times. "I…" She tried. Her voice was gone, like if she had been screaming the entire night before and had bronchitis.

Regina though, felt something in her hair. She sat up quickly and looked all around before finally looking to the blonde, "Emma? Oh… Emma! Emma!"

"I lo…"

"What?" Regina shook her head slightly then stared at the swollen, bruised face of Emma Swan.

"I love…"

"You what?"

"I love you." Emma's grunt finally lasted through the three words.

Regina's tears were hot as they trailed down her face. She smiled at her and nodded, "I love you too."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Twelve Weeks Later:

Emma and Regina made it upstairs. Emma had opted to go home with Regina instead of her parents because Regina had more room at the mansion… and she loved her, but her parents didn't know that yet. She had a feeling that her father did, but he said nothing to his wife.

When they got home that evening, Henry insisted that she rest and watch movies with him, which she didn't say no to. But after the kid went to bed, she found that she was more tired than she thought. So, with a call of "Regina?!" to the study, Emma and Regina slowly made their way upstairs. Emma had built up strength in her physical therapy, but she still needed help on stairs and she had been told to take them slowly.

Once to the top, Emma needed to lean against the wall a moment. "Hey, can you go ahead and get my PJs? Just the cut off flannels and a tank top? I'll make it there eventually, but I'll get to sleep faster if I don't have to dig in that bag my mom brought over…"

"Alright." Regina walked down the hall taking cautious looks behind her. She had already laid out her clothes and changed before she saw movement from down the hall. She knew that Emma would not take offered help, so she went about her nightly routine.

Emma had changed and made it to the bathroom to brush her teeth just as Regina finished up.

"You doing alright, dear?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah! Babe, I'm fine!" The words were harsh, and Regina knew she didn't mean the tone, but it didn't take from the bitterness. The blonde shook her head, "I'm sorry… I'm just… I'm fine." She nodded once in finality.

"Alright." Regina moved out of the bathroom, "I'm going to bed."

"Okay." Emma nodded. She waited for the door to shut before she huffed around at herself, dispelling all her energy, because she had snapped at her girlfriend. She brushed her teeth and went to the restroom then walked out to the bed. Regina was finishing her nightly lotion treatment and smiled as she rubbed her hands up and down her calf a few more times. Emma stared at her leg then after that disappeared under the covers she moved her eyes to the brown cow eyes that made her melt. She knew she didn't have enough energy to walk around the bed to her side, so she made it to Regina's then crawled on top of her, "I'm sorry." She whispered against the brunette's lips as she stared into the secretly expressive eyes that belonged to one Regina Mills.

"Don't apologize. If I were in your position, I would hate that question as well."

"But I love the woman asking it…" Emma looked down, "I shouldn't snap at you."

"It's okay." Regina kissed her and rolled her over to her side of the bed.

Emma looked up at the ceiling and then over to the brunette, who was now reading one of her many spell books, "Whatchya doing?"

"I'm seeing if Dr. Whale is really right…"

"And?"

Regina slammed the book shut and threw it, but the book caught itself and it made it's way back to the proper shelf, "He is. Magic can only heal so much…"

Emma scratched her nose tiredly, "You trying to heal me faster?"

"I'm trying to help, yes."

Emma grinned, "I'm fine, babe. I'll be around a long time. We'll be married eighteen years and still telling each other we love each other."

Regina knit her brows, "Eighteen years?"

"Well, more than that, but yeah…"

"Why eighteen?"

"Because that's what you said."

Regina knit her brows, "When?"

"In one of my coma dreams." The blonde yawned, "I had this dream that I was standing under the apple tree and I was trying to get you to come out so I could tell you I loved you… But then you told me we'd been married for 18 years, so you knew that. And, I had to play it off like I was kidding so I wouldn't get in trouble…" She looked to her girlfriend who had wide, brown eyes as her head rested in her hand and she was turned on her side completely to face the blonde, "What?"

"That… I had that dream. We both had that dream."

Emma raised her brows, "Cool."

"Cool? That's it?"

"Well, what am I supposed to say?!" Emma whined, "I'm tired! It's my first night back. We talked in a dream! So what? It's about damn time! Maybe tonight we can do what we're not allowed to do for another month." Emma waggled her brows.

"Emma…" Regina's grin was saucy, but she turned serious once more as she leaned over, "Do you realize that if our connection gets stronger, then we can share thoughts eventually?"

"Like 'How I Met Tu Mama'?"

Regina smiled, "Yes, dear. Like 'How I Met Your Mother'."

"That's cool. But I don't think you want that to happen… My thoughts…" she looked at her girlfriend, "Are dirty."

"I know."

Emma's eyes were trying to stay open, but she was already halfway asleep, "You think you really will marry me someday?"

Regina smiled as she rolled to turn off her light and rolled back to the blonde, "If your parents allow me, I will, yes."

"Eighteen years?"

"At least."

"Good."


End file.
